Oppo Forum: https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/swanseacity/forum/ Well it took until the last half hour, but Watford finally broke through the Sheffield Wednesday defence thanks to the only bit of real quality over the entire game. A magical Kone' long field pass to Asprilla who ran the by-line before smashing a fizzing daisy cutter into the bottom right corner. Three points, but far from convincing, as we looked devoid of ideas for the majority of the game with a static midfield. We seem to be allergic to away games. Despite picking up a point at Cardiff three weeks ago, Watford seem to fold like a soggy paper plane when on the road. I do not know what happens on the coach on the way to the ground, maybe they use black magic to ensure our winless away run continues. For some idea of how poor we have been on our travels, our record away run without a victory is 16 games. We are on game 14. Looking really promising eh? Is it a fear of not having home support? Is the team just very uncomfortable away from the Vic? One thing I am certain of, if we don't want to be sucked into a relegation scrap we are going to have to pick up a win at some point on the road because our home form is far from flawless. Almost a New Record: Watford last won on the road January the 3rd at Norwich City Swansea have had a rather poor start to their season. Sitting just two places above us in the table having lost at home to leaders Leicester City at the weekend. Ex Burnley and Barnsley boss Michael Duff is a little unknown, but he seems to have the player' and supporters backs so far. Having released every housewife's favourite Russell Martins. Swansea have a wonderful stadium, the Swansea.Com is a lot more modern than the old Vetch Field of old, however, you can never forgot the nostalgia of the older grounds. Also despite their latest loss, Swansea are in very good form. Four wins in five games is nothing to be sniffed at, and Duff has them playing much better with a tighter formation. It doesn't bode well for our travel sickness going away to a side in great form. So what can we expect? Defeat. Yep, I cannot see us getting anything tomorrow night, and the performance against whipping boys Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend did not quell any thoughts that we are going to struggle all season. It's going to take something really special to take anything from the Swans, and in our position a point would be a good result going forward. Asprilla, Kone' and Sema should all start, having been our best players at the weekend. However, we know they won't, Lazy ass Louza will start and do nothing for an hour before being subbed off. Bayo worked hard but had little to no service, so him starting isn't a bad idea if we can get the ball to him. Raj can stay on the coach, Healy can come on later on when Bayo tires. Swansea 2 Watford 1
Swansea seem to have turned a corner (a loss to Leicester at the weekend aside) in the last few weeks so will be licking their lips at the thought of us rocking up.
We got battered 4-0 there last season, but that was when we were riddled with injuries and had a depleted squad. To be fair, what we have now is not much stronger than that side. Someone posted that depleted team which actually won at Norwich last season. In comparison, our full strength team this season is very similar to that low bar of last season. Not sure we'll get beaten quite as badly this time, but a defeat is nailed on. Swansea are in form and our performances have nosedived since around the West Brom match. Swansea 3 Watford 0
Can we ask the EFL to give us a "Bye" so we can lose 0-3 and avoid the shameful performance we know we will get tomorrow night? Asking for a friend.
Guess Kone , Asprilla, Georgi and Sema might start ? Then get taken off after being ineffective. Seems to be the way - maybe as we don’t start on that front foot looking to attack .
The way seems to be start with the same 11 as Saturday (except Porteous) then when the opposition are tiring bring on the pace/skill of Asprilla, Sema. Kone and Georgi boy!
Hope we deploy similar tactics to Cardiff away. Kayembe in for Louza being the most important change. Stay in the game, try to snatch something on the counter and deploy the more creative players when teams are tiring in the second half. I think there’s every chance we could get a point in this game.
Have to say Wednesday were puffing in the second half compared to Watford. Maybe fitness really is improved.
I'd take a point. Livermore won't be able to play 3 games in a week you wouldn't imagine, so would think he won't play meaning we have no one good enough to protect the defence!! Hilarious how people wrote him off. Not saying he's a great player but he's exactly the type of player we needed for that role and he's a leader!! If he plays I think we could come away with something. If he doesn't we will lose.
Not sure where the number 16 comes from. The club record run of away league games without a win is 32 – from May 1971 to November 1972. May 1, 1971 - Sheff United A 0-3 1971-72 Fulham A 0-3 Charlton A 0-2 Carlisle A 0-2 QPR A 0-3 Birmingham A 1-4 Bristol City A 1-2 Middlesbrough A 1-2 Millwall A 1-2 Preston A 0-2 Norwich A 1-1 Cardiff A 0-2 Blackpool A 0-5 Hull A 0-4 Sheff Wed A 1-2 Luton A 0-0 Oxford A 0-0 Portsmouth A 2-2 Burnley A 0-3 Sunderland A 0-5 Orient A 0-1 Swindon A 0-2 1972-73 Wrexham A 0-1 Shrewsbury A 0-0 Grimsby A 0-2 Blackburn A 0-0 York City A 0-0 Charlton A 1-2 Rochdale A 0-1 Chesterfield A 0-0 Halifax A 1-1 Rotherham A 0-1 Finally, on November 25 1972, almost 20 months after winning at Cardiff, Watford 3-1 won at Walsall. However, in that run of 32 consecutive away league games without a win, Watford did win at Stockport in the League Cup in September 1971. So, if you take that into account and include away cup ties, the club record is 30 consecutive away games without a win. So we're quite a long way off equalling the record. Source: The late Trevor Jones's excellent website watfordfcarchive.co.uk
I got that particular figure from SofaScore, who are pretty reliable but after this maybe not. I do agree with what @EnjoytheGame posted though, clearly a lot more research than my quick Google led me to believe.
Also worth noting: a grand total of 10 away goals in that run of 32 matches. Pity the poor away fans in those days!
'During the 19th-century industrial heyday, Swansea was the key centre of the copper-smelting industry, earning the nickname Copperopolis.' I found this historical fact mildly interesting...
Oh we will, second half though. It seems Louza is destined to start for the first 45 mins despite being below par. Kone' has improved game by game and I think 'Dave' really needs a goal. Asprilla is a very good impact sub right now so cannot see him starting if we go with a similar line up to Saturday and knowing VI, that's probably corrrect.
Looking forward to another half of Ince threatening to do something only to turn away from goal and pass it back to the centre backs.
Although we won on Saturday it felt a very muted victory in its celebration, let's make no bones about it we were impotent and the win covered the cracks with all the solidity of the No Frills Single Ply toilet roll my nan (god rest her) used to buy. Can't see us getting anything here despite Swansea seemingly being as abject as us. A wet and cold evening in Cymru for those brave (potentially mad) Watford fans attending
Those were desperate days! Not only did we go down from level 2 effectively in 23rd place out of 22, but we only avoided immediate relegation to level 4 on goal average the next season!
